Anime: Ergo Proxy

Review
Ergo Proxy is a dark mystery. This dystopian tale offers an experience that is unlikely to be found in the japanese industry. This is dark, serious, deep, and at many points overly shady with its storytelling, a rare feat that must be praised not only for the courage of the show, but also for the degree of quality with which it is done.

Earth was devastated in the distant future, the land dry and dead, and the air a poison for men. Society survived inside isolated cities, thriving through cloning and the use of robots called autoraves. In one of such cities, Re-l Mayer, a inspector, starts to investigate the mysterious case of autoraves awakening consciousness and disobeying commands. Her path will lead to unravel mysteries about those in power, the mysterious entities known as Proxies, and about the other cities spread around the land.

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1. Two settings
   Ergo Proxy starts as a highly scy-fy show set in a city full of technology, androids, automated government facilities, and an overall feeling of the "suspicious utopia", much like Ghost in the Shell and many others that follow. This, however, is just a part of the grand setting of Ergo Proxy, and after a few episodes the tale changes its landscape to the barren lands void of life, ruins of old cities, and entities bordering mythical powers and shrouded in mystery. There is a huge change of atmosphere between these two settings, one the show smartly uses it to give you the perfect place where its stars can shine...
   
   Re-l Mayer, Pino, and Vincent Law
   The stars of the show are its greatest assets. Ergo Proxy promotes an intriguing development of its three major players, all of them filled with enough mystery and shady backgrounds to be intriguing, and given a good amount of screentime to evolve and charm you through the way. Re-l Mayer is a rebel to the system, but one who struggles to embrace her suspicion and follow the path to the truth. Vincent Law is a walking mystery, a man who tries to be the glorified standard citizen yet feels something is wrong with him. Pino is the charming android-child, ready for smart remarks and always being sincere in a way the adults around her can't be. She is the link between the dark world filled with dust and death to the human hearts of Vincent and many others.
   
   And there are also other characters
   Daedalus, the cunning scientists who slowly rebels against the system; Iggy, the watchful eye and robotic protector; Raul, the villain who wants to be a hero. These three characters, as well as other support cast, get their quality time on screen, adding much to a show that is all about the struggles of people against a world they don't understand. When you get such a good amount of characters like this, it becomes nearly impossible for everything else to go wrong.
   
   Many sides, many tales
   There are plenty of different takes on this dystopian world. Vincent Law and Pino embark on a quest of self-discovery, an adventure across the land where they face off mysterious villains, learn about past wars, and about Vincent's real identity. Re-l Mayer and Iggy give us a rebellion, the search for the truth and the unmasking of the false utopia where men live. Daedalus and Raul introduce us the aspects of the necessary evil, the reasons behind the secrets of the world and why its government is dark and cruel. These three major fronts all play together to develop the big picture, a outstanding feat.
   
   All of it with superb identity
   Identity. Although Ergo Proxy boasts an amazing set of characters and a great narrative, perhaps its strongest point is its identity. It starts with a shady world, one that is truly devastated, bleak, lifeless. The cities also give us a sense that something is wrong, a place of false hope and lies with its automated messages, creepy androids, and obedient inhabitants. Join that with a character design with a good deal of uniqueness, a protagonist that really stands out with her gothic-I-am-rebel style, and characters with a sober look and you have perhaps Manglobe's best work. The sound direction also contributes to creating the atmosphere of the show, even if it means a lot of musicless takes, a sense of emptiness, or weird robot voices. And damn, Pino steals the show. That's how you use a child in such a devastated setting.
   
   But it can grow boring
   If there is a major turn down in Ergo Proxy, it certainly falls to its lack of tension. Although the events can make you intrigued with the mysteries of the world, urgency and action are rarely used to lure you in the tale. It has powerful entities, shootouts, endless run-for-life, twists and surprising revelations, yet when they present themselves it feels not that impactful at many points. This is only untrue when Re-l Mayer is present, perhaps because she is the only player in this tale who is a human prone to a multitude of feelings while most others are far too mature and cold or confused to give us the sense of despair and awe some events would normally require. Because of that, at many points Ergo Proxy loses momentum and you may take a while to put the next episode to watch or simply start to don't care of going on with it. It manages to regain momentum with surprises and development, but losing it the way it does can be really damaging.
   

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Comments
Ergo Proxy is amazing in many ways. Its major success surely falls into crafting multiple interesting characters, each with their own agenda, searching for answers of their own and living in places that are fitting to their existence. These guys make for a deep ride of discoveries and dangerous developments, which are aided by the second major point of this show: its atmosphere.

Yeah, I can't recall many shows with such a powerful atmosphere as Ergo Proxy. The dusty deserts, the technological cities, the ruins, proxys, robots, damn. You can't see many shows with the same visual identify as this.

Ultimately though, Ergo Proxy can be tough to watch. Yes, it is amazing, I told you. However, the show is slow to take you in after it resolves part of its problems. The cliffhangers are sparse, the thrilling sequences are self-contained, and it gets a bit of a push to keep watching after a small arc wraps up. I can't see you watching it all in one sitting, but after finishing everything the experience is sure to be worthy it.

When I watched the first episode of Ergo Proxy I was amazed - It was Studio Ghibli quality animation with Matrix level style and action - It felt like a 9.5 rated anime. And then as the story progressed I understood why its rating was 7.29. I think what we all value most in an anime is its heart. And its in this crucial aspect that Ergo Proxy falls short of.

Animation:
Though this anime is from 2006 it looks brand new. Very modern with a high level of detail and style.

Sound:
Another thing done superbly. It was like a big budget Hollywood move.

Story:
The basic story is relatively simple. The have tried to use the 'Memento' principle to bring in mystery. I really don't like that. Because when you look back you sort of feel cheated. I love a good intelligent mystery (even when its a Five Findouters or Hardy boys books) where you reach the conclusion through proper work or an alternate reality where the rules are different and even days after seeing the movie you think about it. But here they were just using cinematography and other such stuff to make the story seem far more great than what it really is. If they were a little bit more down to earth and honest this anime would have been better.

I really love scifi, in all its types, whether Matrix or Ex Machina where you see the dark side. This anime is about the dark side. What I have always felt is that its when there is a dark side that even a small amount of love makes a huge difference. But here the love was so small that watching this anime was not fulfilling.

Character:
It follows only a few characters in depth, yet I never felt attached to them. In the end it was the small android girl who gets consciousness who brings a smile to my face.

It also had that American-ish love of the flawed character. Somehow it just does not work in this setting.

Value and Enjoyment:
This is where this anime let me down. It was neither fun nor fulfilling. Initially I was amazed by this future scifi society and all the hi-tech things. But as the story progresses and it becomes more about the people, it was a little boring. It was severely lacking in heart..................

And there are too many other anime that are so nice. I ended up with this anime as I have already finished all the nice ones. I would recommend you to check out some of the other higher rated scifi animes first.

I usually don't write reviews, but after having seen how overrated this anime is, I thought I'll make an exception.
Recently, I've ran into way too much anime where I felt the author is trying to troll the audience, and this is one of them.

The anime starts out promising. It's mysterious, things happen fast, there aren't too many characters so it's not difficult to understand what's going on as long as you pay attention. Most of the questions get answered in a timely manner, and the main "mystery" about the main character is solved somewhere around episode 10.
After that, however, the anime goes downhill, and becomes an epic failure. Unfortunately, it's hard to imagine this wasn't intentional. Most of the episodes between 10-19 are, simply put, fillers. Not all of them, but at least half. This would be acceptable in a 50+ episodes show, but we are talking about 23 episodes having 5+ filler episodes.
Yes, you do get to know the characters more through these episodes, but in a fast paced, mystery driven anime such as this, these episodes are very hard to adapt to as a viewer. They simply don't belong there. Now, not all the fillers are equally bad. Episode 15, in particular is the worst. I literally had to press the pause button and look up the episode in the database to make sure I'm still watching the main show, and not a random special, OVA, or parody episode. This broke the continuity of enjoyment so hard like driving a F1 car into a rock wall. At this point it was hard to still consider the people responsible for making this anime as being able to do their job right. It felt so out of context that it pretty much shouldn't have been in the anime but...cuts from the episode were shown later, implying that it actually happened. If this wasn't bad enough, a rather long section was about a character not yet introduced, and they spoiled his name, who happened to be the main antagonist! Starting from this point, I had a negative bias for the rest of the anime, which could have seriously reduced my enjoyment, but (un)?fortunately, the rest confirmed my expectations.
Episode 16 was titled "Busy doing nothing" and that's exactly what was going on in the entire episode. Sure, it wasn't as boring as Endless Eight, but still felt out of place for a post-apocalyptic mystery anime. The title implies that the staff was perfectly aware that they are making a filler, and even went for trolling people by pointing that out to them. More on episode titles later as this wasn't the only case.
Episode 19 was, well, not bad. I actually enjoyed it, since it was about the only character I liked in the series, the robot loli. However, it was again, so out of place as episode 15, and was a pain to watch despite it being good.
After that, came a rushed ending. I was mostly capable of following the story up to this point, contrary to the shows intent of being confusing as hell (several episodes were about illusions and mental attacks, depicting stuff that didn't even happen in the reality. I'm talking about full episodes here!) but this was were things got broken, namely in the last episode. I tried asking for explanations in the comments section, I even read wikis and all I got out of it was a bit, far nothing, except finding even more contradictions. Heck, even another reviewer, who rated story as a 8 or 9 wrote the ending was "vague", well yes, that's a good word for a rushed ending without explanations. It wouldn't deserve a 8 in story if the main plot is incomprehensible and unresolved, though.
Now, here is the real problem with that : Look at the title of the last episode. "Deus ex Machina". Yes, that's a term in the entertainment industry which means "making BS up because we can't resolve things properly". The episode was literally exactly that. While the main antagonist's intentions were reasonable, everything else was a mess. Why did the sun suddenly start to shine? Will the main character die or survive? Why did the that girl grow wings and fly into the sky? What happens to her there? Why does the dome collapse? Turning off the power in a building wouldn't result in that. I could continue, but the point is, after enduring a large amount of fillers and out-of-place episodes, the anime failed to resolve or even explain or properly introduce most of the main plot lines, and the only one resolved, the main antagonist, was a character we first saw in the last episode(s), not counting the spoiler in the middle. In short the ending was horrible and the staff knew it. Afterall they titled it "Deus ex Machina". If that's not some hardcore trolling attempt, I don't know what it is.



And now it's time for some ratings :

Art and animation - This would have been good, except black on black with some blur and lack of contrast might make the atmosphere match the story, but it is hard to see and tell what is even going on in the screen. Unfortunately at best I can rate this a 6, I even had to increase the brightness of my screen just to watch this.
Sound - I had no problems here, nor do I particularly remember anything about it being impressive, so it passes, 7.
Story - An interesting but flawed and somewhat unexplained premise, no progress for most of the episodes in the middle, and a rushed, literally deus ex machina ending. This is beyond very bad, I have to rate it as a 2.
Characters - A very annoying female, and a protagonist without his memories, hard to relate to these two positively. The only saving grace is the loli robot who is cute, and has by far the most likeable personality in the whole thing. Oh, and she doesn't die, that's another plus. So characters would be like 3 but thanks to Pino, it's worth a 4.

Value - Well...hard to rate this one. It had interesting themes, although it failed to deliver on the story and presentation, it at least had contents unlike a lot of other stuff I watch so I'm willing to give a 6 for this category. They could have made a very good show out of these elements, but failed.
Enjoyment - The first few episodes were awesome, then the rest was a torture chamber. It's going to be memorable as one of those really bad anime experiences where my expectations was raised only to receive crap in the end, making this a 2.

~ If you want action skip this anime. (you were warned) Back in the old days, I found awesome show like To love-ru, Guilty Crown, and stuff like that, those anime were awesome, so I kinda gave a few nice words for them in ani-db, I got some nice and some “not so nice” reactions, and those people made me being curious (are there better show out there like so much better?), some of them recommended me Ergo Proxy on the question: “I love magic vs technology – If you did not like Guilty crown what do you recommend?”, and this was it. Although my 6th sense told me to Ignore this anime, I did so till now. Then came Sword art online, and Akame-ga-Kill (loved it both 10/10) and other goodies, do they were criticized badly by some people as I saw, being curious, what kind of anime is good for those people again. One name came up ergo proxy again....

Outcome : This anime was awesome/sucked (for me yes at the same time both) 7-2(last 4eps ) The beginning was good, yes semi good not 9 or 10. GOOD = 7 In the end it become pointless and boring 1/10 (last 4 eps) I was expecting more fire balls.
Graphic was well made. ~ The world is black and gray, they pointed that out perfectly. 7/10 (they worked a lot on it!!!) but hard work does not mean 9-10!!!! In this time and age its 7!!! and no more.
Sound it was ok 5/10 (nothing to like nothing to hate)
Enjoyment 5/10: Damn I don't want to vote on this one. Lets see.....do you like despair and gray(not as color)? = 1/10 - Did "I" had fun despite that? That is a different question in that case 6/10. Why? because I did not watch this series to be entertaining but for being unique. 6/10 - How I balance my personal opinion vs what I think a global scale should judge this aspect? my personal experience/opinion 6/10 vs global meaning "Enjoyment" 1/10 > lets balance on my scale = 5/10 Story piff BAD 3/10…what story….in short spoiler ….utopia+ despair + female something= exile=desert = fun/maybe =a bit yes=> they went back home => end of the city => end of the anime => end of story…. or not they even failed to end the story after the world ended......I hate that AND nothing was explained properly, and nothing was unexpected. I lost 100% interest after having fun experience until episode 18. Then it was pain to watch. The anime contained filler, which were as meaningful as in Bleach=not at all!!! YES I compare this to Bleach. And it fails versus one of the wrist story vise anime EVER and Bleach had better fillers. “One either read the last pages of a book if he wants safe fun, or tear them and burn them” ~ me from experience they did a cheap job on the "story and development".
Value 5/10 ~ If this anime gave so much to anime society being awesome in the past, it deserves some credit 6.., and not more. Its unfinished, and leaves sour after taste, Would I ever watch it again or normally recommend it to anyone? I had to think long on this one. The conclusion I came is sadly: never. There are far better shows out there.
Characters Scrap 0/100 ~ in here sadly I can only go 1/10 “No one can choose what kind of person they will become no matter what kind of being they are.” Is the final conclusion of one of the main character Re-l Mayer in episode 22. Well f*ck you “Re-l Mayer” only the lowest beings think that way! Even beings that has any self understanding can make a CHOICE and how he/she views the world an people ~ if they want to. Only the lowest, worthless personality dare to even think they are not responsible for whom they are. If this is where a main character gets, after defying all rules/exploring the world….desert…and get to this conclusion...~just "f*ck you “Re-l Mayer” ~ man this “one” sentence pissed me off so much. If one wants to really change all they need to do choose and stand by it for themselves. Rely how hard is that….The question is how much we love ourselves and what are the benefits….but that is up to the individual to decide this back to square one. ~ so we had selfish, spoiled, uncompassionate, princes, a normal guys who just wants to survive but he is actually an op godlike thingy The rest of the character’s, let’s see programmed robots, going insane weaklings, pointless characters……all of them….=1/10 So no character valuable not even one, I hated 1 for 1 sentence but felt nothing at all the entire anime. I found no character to relate to or love or even care, and just because it’s old it does not mean this is forgivable. 1/10 ~ “Bad character’s are NEVER forgivable”
All and all 5/10 I give this “In its time masterpiece for others perhaps 10/10” now for me and I think most people watching this time and age first would agree on “average” 5/10 If it remained reasonable, and exciting, or even explained the story or make sense. BUT IT FAILED TO LIVE UP TO IT! And some may say other anime being “not explaining” or illogical equals 1-3 well…compare them I was fair. : P (just saying) Finally: This anime does not contain meaningful action (and I found it refreshing and loved that in it) although to the main character is op “end of story” he owned all enemy, and that I found incredibly GOOD realistic, power CAN declare a real fight alone! (something every anime and hero movie and every other “things” likes to forget…..geeez humanity… +1 personal point to the anime for this, what I will ignore wanting to stay subjective). Not that this show needed any action, ~ If you want action skip this anime.(you were warned twice) "so where is the magic vs technology in this anime to the person recommended this to me 5 years ago HAAA?:D" The fact this anime deserves a 6-7/10(for the first 18 episodes) in the bigger picture. I recommend for those who want something unique, for its a classic, and then decide yourself was it masterpiece like most people say it, or not. ~ I love to disagree Altogether in one word average = 5/10

When a show is touted as deep or intelligent, I often fear what makes a good story will be neglected. Maybe it’s no secret a show can be praised solely for its profundity while failing in storytelling. But hey, ‘intelligence’ is good armor for a show to have. Why bother with authentic storytelling when a show can show-off its psychology knowledge?

But instead of ranting, let’s look at Ergo Proxy.

The future, probably. Technology has advanced to where it’s created AutoReivs, androids who act as servants to people. But in the city of Romdo, a bug called the Cogito Virus is spreading through the AutoReivs. They gain a will of their own, often to destructive results. Detective Re-l Mayer is tasked with investigating the Cogito Virus, but is attacked by a monster called a Proxy.

The Proxy had escaped from a research lab under Daedalus’ watch, and is strangely drawn to the immigrant Vincent Law. After another incident, Security Bureau Chief Raul Creed tries to capture Vincent and the Proxy. But the former, joined by the child-like AutoReiv Pino, escapes Romdo out to the wasteland world. And thus begins Re-l’s mission to discover what the Proxy is, Vincent’s journey in the wasteland, and the proverbial chess game between Daedalus and Raul.

For Daedalus, it’s his reason for living at stake. He has strong feelings for Re-l, willing to use his authority to let her break rules when she needs to. Or assist her in killing the Proxy despite Raul’s mission to capture it. A smooth talker and an even smoother schemer, Daedalus is defined by his feelings for Re-l without much else to his person. He’s an empty man, whose reason for living touches on a crucial point for Romdo’s citizens. And that point ups the urgency for Raul to capture Vincent and the Proxy alive.

Raul himself starts as the antagonist—antagonist, not villain—for all the characters. But as he learns more about the Proxy and Vincent, the more he questions why they must be captured alive. His character arc deals with authority, and how far someone will follow orders without question. Early scenes also make a connection between Raul and Pino, to hint at another side to him. Unfortunately, this connection and that other side aren’t explored until the final act. It’s too bad, because fully realized, the connection between Raul and Pino would round out the former.

Pino is the classic tale of an innocent child learning about the real world, but tainted by unnerving implications from her ‘age’ and the Cogito Virus. From her lack of grasping death to adventurous curiosity, it’s unclear whether her actions are more from her programming or her ‘will.’ She’s supposed to be infected, but doesn’t show the destructive actions as other AutoReivs do. Then again, she’s a child at heart. And regardless of why she learns about the world, what matters is she does. Her empathy grows with her fondness toward Vincent, and her tact sharpens under Re-l’s demeanor.

This is because Re-l ends up joining Vincent. She pursues him to bring him back to Romdo, but decides to join his journey after certain events, to learn more about the Proxy. Re-l herself is the picture of professional, maintaining her gun’s aim the way she maintains her eyeliner; perfectly. Because for how cold she can be on the job, she’s also a bit frivolous. She apparently spends every morning fixing her make-up, shows fear against the Proxy, and gets angry when things don’t go as planned. My goodness, it’s like she’s lived a sheltered life as the granddaughter of Romdo’s leader.

Correction: she IS the sheltered granddaughter of Romdo’s leader. Re-l is often in over her head despite her demeanor, like she was mismatched to her job. This isn’t unbelievable though, as early on much of her work is done through her AutoReiv Iggy. But after certain events, her character arc becomes one of growing independence, and knowing when to relax in the company of others. Re-l might be hard to like—though Vincent would disagree—but at least she’s compelling to watch.

As for Vincent, his journey is a quest of self-discovery. He’s an immigrant from the city of Mosque, but the threat from the Proxy and Raul forces him to escape. But, he realizes he has no memory of his time in Mosque. So he decides to travel there, hoping to find the answers to his memory. Vincent himself often thinks about who he is, almost to the point where it’s all that defines him (and because of his role in the story, can’t get away with it like Daedalus).

Thankfully, it’s not. Vincent’s journey changes him bit by bit, going from a boy depressed by events and hesitant to face the truth, to a man who can smile despite the odds and can deal with the wind being taken out of his sails (metaphorically, and...literally). Unfortunately, his progress cracks in the final act, when it moves at near breakneck speed to advance the story. The story itself moves brisk and quick during the first and final acts, but it’s the middle act that can be a problem.

The better part of the show’s middle act is punishingly slow, doing nearly nothing to advance the story. People expecting a quick trip to the final act should exercise patience, and take time to admire the setting and characters along the way. Because unlike some shows where a five minute event takes five episodes to unfold, Ergo Proxy moves along a time span of weeks and maybe months. It’s a long journey, but it always has something to show for it.

Sometimes it peeks into a future for Romdo, like the abandoned city occupied by a single man whose circumstances mirror Vincent’s. Or the closed-off amusement park that subscribes to ignorance and bliss before its eventual downfall. At other times, it’s a character study to test the bonds between Re-l, Vincent, and Pino. From trusting each other with food and water supplies, to saving each other from new and familiar faces, to placing their fates in each other’s hands (literally and metaphorically).

Going further, one episode strongly hints to the answer of Vincent’s memory, while another episode explores consciousness where there normally isn’t consciousness. It also looks into some of the minor characters. There’s one person whose sense of want and duty blur together as he feels emotions he’s never felt, while a military unit fights against destructive AutoReivs.

Oops, I stayed on the road of storytelling but it went into a jungle of existential and societal metaphors anyway. Whether stated or implied, the show is filled with the kind of intelligence I described earlier, but doesn’t hinge itself on profundity thanks to its compelling characters. They’re rounded enough to make the psychology a part of them instead of the other way around. The show is a story first, a display—display, not show-off—of psychology second, and that’s the way it should be. Save for the awful episode 15 that says nothing new, the show is great about being meaningful without crossing the line into nonsense.

But to give episode 15 credit, it displays the show’s perfectly fitting morbid sense of humor. It’s hard not to gawk at someone who’s literally making a game gravely serious despite his cheerfulness. Another episode shows two people who joke about their own uselessness. And another person threatens Re-l to no effect, as the camera goes back and forth between his increasingly scared face and her unmoving scowl.

The camera work is otherwise unremarkable, standard, except when it decides to throw in Re-l fanservice when it’s not needed. Because a glance of her naked body covered by two towels as she’s stretchered away, doesn’t have the weight of a slow look at her body that mirrors Vincent’s attraction to her when they’re close together. But hey, at least the visuals have the decency to give Re-l unassuming white underwear instead of an accentuating black.

The visuals themselves give the world a bleak look, from the unnaturally spotless Romdo, to the crack-lined, rust-littered structures of the wasteland world. Special mention goes to the character designs, particularly the AutoReivs. Save for Pino, every AutoReiv is identified by mask-like faces where glowing red eyes are the only hint of any expression. Most close-ups of the AutoReivs don’t reveal anything, but it adds tension in guessing whether they’re destructive or not.

But when they ARE destructive, there’s sometimes a firefight following close behind, like when a military group goes against them. Yes, I’m surprised the show has action scenes too. They move fluidly but without crazy choreography, which would look ridiculous in this fairly grounded show anyway. Except for the Proxy. The Proxy’s fights move with supernatural grace, but aren’t louder than the normal action scenes.

Because even in the action scenes, most of the music tracks are atmospheric ambiance instead of distinct pieces; the only noticeable track being the operatic ‘Fellow Citizens.’ The overall score works where it’s used, setting the mood but never distracting from the dialog. And there’s a lot of it. Nearly every moment of the show is charged with talking or thinking, and it demands a certain amount of attention.

Which brings me to another point.

Ergo Proxy isn’t an easy show to watch. There’s action, but people who watch it for the action can quickly get bored. The first and final acts are fast, but the middle act will drive away the impatient even faster. It’s held together by compelling characters, but ‘compelling’ isn’t ‘likable.’ It does most things right, but demands patience. So while the destination is far away, the journey is always here.

Ergo Proxy is a highly experimental show, and just like all shows of that kind it always divides the viewers into two camps: while the ones enjoy its complex story and thought-provoking symbolism, the others fiercely criticize it for "pretentiousness" or simply scratch their heads in perplexity, wondering what this whole thing is supposed to mean.
As for me, I firmly believe this series is amazing with no exaggeration about it, and with this review I'll try to explain you why. Since the anime has a site description you can always read, allow me to skip further introductions and get straight to business.

STORY
Obviously the most contentious part of Ergo Proxy. The story and the method of storytelling this anime employs are highly unusual, and that is by far the main reason why quite a number of people dislike it. However, I think this story does not "pretend" to be clever - it is clever indeed. Moreover, it makes Ergo Proxy one of the most clever series I've ever watched.
First of all, the story at the core is a journey of self-discovery, hence the main idea is pretty simple yet great, at least as I comprehend it: you should find your own way instead of being somebody's follower or lower-rank copy ("proxy"); for that you should realize who you are, what you live for and how the real world looks. The anime certainly makes you ask important questions and reflect on your own life, and that always counts as a great quality in my book.
Second, Ergo Proxy is a highly experimental show as it presents a diverse mix of genres: cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, action, mystery, drama, psychological mindf*ck, road movie and even a bit of comedy, romance and slice of life. Consequently, it results in a very unorthodox narrative full of plot twists & genre switches that many viewers disliked as they felt trolled and confused while watching. Well, I do understand those complaints: it is indeed very unusual, confusing at times and probably not to everybody's liking. Besides, one may argue that the anime goes a little too far with experiments in episodes 15 and 19 which makes them too different from the rest in their style. Perhaps, the show could've done better without those two, as it would've also made the 2nd half of the series more compact to provide a better pacing and a better build-up for the ending.
Aside from that fairly tolerable issue, the plot is very well-written & coherent despite its complexity, and the credit for that goes to Dai Sato - the author of the original story and one of the best Japanese scriptwriters who also participated in writing scripts for Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. In fact, it still makes me wonder how he and his team managed to weave all those genres and events into one logical & continuous plot. So, not only those swings & changes are very interesting and uncommon but they also don't disrupt the storyline and don't exist there just for the sake of it - instead, they actually form the story, with each episode adding something brand new to the plot & character development, and that's amazing indeed.
However, the main reason why this anime seems unintelligible to so many people most probably lies in its third peculiarity which is the astounding number of symbols & allegories employed: literally every single name & situation is allegoric and requires your interpretation to get the whole story. Moreover, not only those allegories turn out relevant & contributing to the plot but also extremely diverse, referring to Greek mythology, Descartes' philosophy and Shakespeare's plays among other things. No doubt, the high degree of symbolism is what makes the series quite a riddle at times; yet it is in fact a very entertaining and well-thought-out riddle where every element serves its purpose to convey the show's message, and I personally had lots of fun deciphering it.
With all those complex aspects the story never turns into pretentious nonsense or something really incomprehensible because it actually answers most questions, though often in roundabout and not obvious ways. That means it just demands a little more attention than in your average series, and if you pay it, you get it. Well, I don't consider myself an intellectual and yet I understood almost everything from the first viewing. There were a couple of moments I didn't grasp but it took me three minutes (!) to use google, click the first link and read an insightful explanation that satisfied me.
And even if you don't get something it's not a reason to dislike the show - it is actually a great motivation for you because this anime is highly rewatchable, and during every viewing there will be new discoveries that will enrich you.

ANIMATION & SOUND
Ergo Proxy's art style is easily recognizable for its omnipresent dark colors and realistic yet unusual character designs that give the series a westernized & very artistic look. The animation quality is great except for a considerable inconsistency in character drawing, and the style fits like a glove although some viewers may need time to get used to its murky appearance.
The music is a number of ambient tracks by Ike Yoshihiro, a U2-esque opening theme by Monoral and an ending song by Radiohead. All the tracks are nicely composed to create the engrossing and mysterious atmosphere of the series, and even those who dislike the show agree that the soundtrack is simply amazing.
The voice-acting is also very well-done as the voices perfectly fit the characters, and the seiyus did a very good job at conveying emotions.
To sum up, the production values are impressive indeed, and the style is memorable & totally appropriate for the show.

CHARACTERS
Well, Ergo Proxy is an anime about self-discovery, hence its primary focus lies on the characters and their development. The main difference from other shows of this kind is that the story for the most part doesn't emerge from characters' actions & choices - rather, the characters are put into an already crafted plot full of twists & symbols mirroring their inner conflicts, and they receive development while going through this labyrinthine plot and unraveling its mystery step by step. As a result, you get a story-driven series with strong emphasis on the characters, which looks paradoxical on paper yet works surprisingly well in reality, being one of the most original aspects of the show.
Another interesting aspect is how the characters don't feel overblown in any way. Unlike many other series that endow each character with one or two exaggerated features (extreme cuteness, extreme coolness etc.), often at the cost of everything else, Ergo Proxy successfully avoids that common pattern by presenting a trio of very well-balanced protagonists in Re-l Mayer, Vincent Law and Pino:
- Re-l is a confident, no-nonsense investigator with great analytical and shooting skills which, however, don't exceed the capabilities of a trained person and thus don't make her an invincible action hero or an omniscient genius. At first, she acts rather cold towards others (Vincent in particular) because she's a bit spoiled by her social position and because the circumstances demand her to be on guard all the time. However, as the show goes on Re-l changes quite a bit, and it becomes evident that she's a perfectly normal girl with normal human emotions. Also, she's very attractive but not oversexualized which is indeed an extreme rarity for this medium;
- Vincent lost his memories and a huge part of his identity with them, so he feels an obvious lack of confidence... and yet he knows how to repair things, how to hold a weapon and shoot, and despite acting very shy at the beginning he embarks on a dangerous & often bewildering journey of self-discovery and gradually develops into a completely different person by the end of the series. So, he ain't some useless angsty teenager typical for anime - rather, he is a very kind and helpful guy who wants to learn the truth about himself. His angst never feels overblown to the point where it gets annoying, and his development throughout the story is truly one of the most fundamental I've ever seen;
- as for Pino, she's an autoreiv that accompanies Re-l & Vincent, providing some nice examples of man & machine interaction as well as some lightheartedness to compensate for the grim & serious setting. She is an awesome & very lovable character who at the same time never gets sickeningly moe because she acts like a normal girl of her age and not some typical loli you often see in anime.
Also, the show has one more protagonist i.e. Ergo Proxy, but the identity & role of that guy is a huge spoiler so I can't tell you anything about him - you'll have to learn it yourself.
Overall, I would say that the right balance in characterization and the natural step-by-step development is what makes the protagonists very realistic, and while there may be people who don't like it because they find the characters "boring" (or not extreme enough in comparison to other series) I really enjoy this approach. What I enjoy no less is that most of the secondary characters receive a great share of development as well, with Raul Creed, Daedalus, Hoody and Iggy being the most outstanding examples.
So, in general the characterization is very impressive, and even if you don't find the cast that interesting at first, just give them some time and see it for yourself.

OVERALL
Perhaps, the story could do better without a couple of questionable episodes, and the character drawings could be more consistent. Therefore, I can't really call this show a flawless masterpiece. However, I will easily give it an excellent rating and with lots of pleasure take it to my personal top-10.
My final advice for possible newcomers is simple: if you look for some lighthearted entertainment with J-pop, sugoi, ganbatte, tomodachi, squealing voices and bright haircolors, stay away from this anime as you will only waste your time. The same is if you look for an action-driven series because action is not the focal point of Ergo Proxy.
However, if you look for a compelling story, if you are not afraid of a certain intellectual challenge, if you are open-minded and able to keep attention for 23 episodes, I highly encourage you to watch this show. Of course, I can't guarantee you will like it as much as I do, but I'm pretty sure you at least won't regret it.